Armenia’s judicial system prone to corruption

/By Azernews/

By Nazrin Gadimova

Armenia’s judicial system is prone to corruption and suffers from a lack of independence, reads a new report by the Council of Europe Group of States against Corruption (GRECO).

The Council underlines that corruption remains a major problem for Armenian society, highlighting the need to prevent corruption among deputies, judges and public prosecutors.

There are numerous reports regarding the lack of independence of the judiciary in practice, both from external actors such as the executive power at central and local levels (including law enforcement agencies), as well as from internal judicial actors – notably, higher-instance court judges. On the other hand, serious concerns have been raised concerning “improper influence on judges through bribes and gifts.

To further increase the transparency of processes, the organization called on lawmakers to adopt a code of conduct of Deputies.

"Procedures for the selection of judges, prosecutors, including the prosecutor general, require further improvement. The immunity of judges shall be limited to activities related to the implementation of justice,” the report says.

“The point that one of the main problems of destroying the statehood of the Republic of Armenia is corruption, I must definitely mention, by intertwined monopoly or abuse of dominant position holding people, in the economy; it is a simple truth,” MP Tigran Urikhanyan told Armenian media while commenting on the report.